Welcome to the OzGames

The carnival is over.

It has dutifully been called the best games ever, Kylie Minogue has sung a song, and the athletes are getting ready to come back home.

And what a Games it was for Australia… on the track, in the pool, in team sports and solo pursuits. The swimming Campbell sisters, hockey’s Crookwell connection, our first ever women’s boxing gold, the weightlifter sent home, the COACH sent home….

There were so many memorable moments and so many medals. We finished second on the medal tally which seems like a pretty good result, given the usual provisos of our modest population. You’d think it would be deemed a success for Team Oz.

Au contraire.

Glasgow 2014 is already being referred to as Australia’s worst result since 1986, and the first time since that last Games in Scotland that Australia has not held top spot on the medal tally. That despite finishing second. Not last, not middle of the table. Second.

Already there’s talk of post mortems and hard-core naval gazing, and all this against a backdrop of announcements of savage cuts to the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Commission.

So where to from here?

The Australian public still loves the Games… in some respects maybe even more than the Olympics because Aussies feature more prominently and most aren’t upset with coming second on the medal tally.

But IF finishing second wasn’t good enough, what’s something that can be done to improve that?

And then it struck me. Flash, bang, alakazam. An epiphany, so obvious and simple I’m amazed it hasn’t already happened. We need…

The Oz Games
 
If you want more Aussie medals, then let’s have a Games that features ONLY Aussies. No matter what the event, even in the 100m sprints, you know it’s going to be an Aussie winner before it even starts.

Think about it.

Our nation’s forefathers practically spelt it out for us. It’s built into the country’s design. There are six states and two territories, making eight teams.

Eight.

The number of lanes in the pool.

The number of lanes on the track.

That’s also a nice easy number to work with for knockouts and play offs.

The Oz Games has been sitting there all this time just waiting to be discovered.

Think it through. We have Olympics every four years, and Commonwealth Games offset two years after each Olympics. That still leaves two years – the odd years – where we have no Games.

The Oz Games would act like a trial HSC… recreating Games conditions so that our athletes got used to not just competing but the conditions they would compete in.

The Oz Games could be rotated around the cities of Australia, making use of existing excellent facilities (and possibly encouraging even more infrastructure) and the hosting of these Games would also show the world our suitability for hosting future Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

Additionally, the Oz Games would be a boon for each hosting city and would be a fillip for the broader Australian domestic travelling economy.

So how would it work?

Sports would be encouraged to leave a set period of their schedule aside (perhaps October, after the major football grand finals) for the Oz Games. If individual sports wanted to, they could fold their national titles into the Games, so long as they were prepared for the state-based format.

The important thing is the creation of a Games environment, assisting with Olympic and Commonwealth Games preparation.

Games + State of Origin = Winning formula.

Teams would be selected on a “state of origin” basis, so that states with AIS facilities didn’t receive an unfair leg up.

And unlike the rugby league state of origin that is limited to just two states, or the AFL state of origin which failed due to the over-arching popularity of club footy, this would be a true state of origin event the whole nation could be passionate about.

New team combinations would be tried, new talent would be unearthed. And while the smaller states (as with the smaller nations at the bigger Games) may not take home too many medals, the Oz Games offers the opportunity for lesser known athletes to receive the spotlight and possibly excel as a result.

TV stations could help offset the costs of holding the Oz Games via coverage rights and every single event can be optimised for prime viewing times.

The Oz Games.

Wow. I want it now!

And you know what… whether it made us more competitive for other events is almost immaterial. The Oz Games would be pretty great in and of itself. I like the idea so much I’m prepared to hand over the copyright and trademarks for nix just to get it off the ground. Just give me a Wikipedia entry or maybe a cool tweet from an athlete and we’ll call it square.

But that’s in the future, if it happens at all.

For now, it’s time to welcome back our returning Commonwealth Games athletes. They achieved great things, and I don’t think second place is a bad result at all.  What’s more I’m pretty sure most Aussies feel exactly the same.

We loved watching every minute of their performances. In fact, we liked it watching our athletes so much, we just want more of it. Fingers crossed we’ll see them at Oz Games 2015.

(Originally published on the Goulburn Post website).